Chapter Shonou to Sibyls of S by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Shonou to Sibyls

Shonou (The Reign of), the most remote period, historic or pre-historic.

Let us first learn to know what belongs to ourselves, and then, if we have leisure, cast our reflections back to the reign of Shonou, who governed 20,000 years before the creation of the moon.—Goldsmith: A Citizen of the World, ixxv. (1759).

Shoo-King (The), the history of the Chinese monarchs, by Confucius. It begins with Yoo, B. C. 2205.

Shoolbred (Dame), the foster-mother of Henry Smith.—Sir W. Scott: Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).

Shore (Jane), the heroine and title of a tragedy by N. Rowe (1713). Jane Shore was the wife of a London merchant, but left her husband to become the mistress of Edward IV. At the death of that monarch, lord Hastings wished to obtain her, but she rejected his advances. This drew on her the jealous wrath of Alicia (lord Hastings’s mistress), who induced her to accuse lord Hastings of want of allegiance to the lord protector. The duke of Gloucester commanded the instant execution of Hastings; and, accusing Jane Shore of having bewitched him, condemned her to wander about in a sheet, holding a taper in her hand, and decreed that any one who offered her food or shelter should be put to death. Jane continued an outcast for three days, when her husband came to her succour, but he was seized by Gloucester’s myrmidons, and Jane Shore died.

Miss Smithson [1800] had a splendid voice, a tall and noble person. Her “Jane Shore” put more money into the manager’s pocket than Edmund Kean, Macready, Miss Foote, or Charles Kemble.—Donaldson: Recollections.

Shoreditch. The old London tradition is that Shoreditch derived its name from Jane Shore, the beautiful mistress of Edward IV., who, worn out with poverty and hunger, died miserably in a ditch in this suburb.

I could not get one bit of bread,
Whereby my hunger might be fed…
So, weary of my life, at lengthe
I yielded up my vital strength
Within a ditch…which since that daye
Is Shore-ditch called, as writers saye.
   —A ballad in Pepys’s collection, The Woeful Lamentation of Jane Shore.

Stow says the name is a corruption of “sewer-ditch,” or the common drain. Both these etymologies are only good for fable, as the word is derived from sir John de Soerdich, an eminent statesman and diplomatist, who “rode with Manney and Chandos against the French by the side of the Black Prince.”

Shoreditch (Duke of). Barlow, the favourite archer of Henry VIII., was so entitled by the Merry Monarch, in royal sport. Barlow’s two skilful companions were created at the same time “marquis of Islington” and “earl of Pancras.” Good king, make not good lord of Lincoin “duke of Shoreditche.”—The Poore Man’s Peticion to the Kinge (art. xvi., 1603).

Shorne (Sir John), noted for his feat of conjuring the devil into a boot.

To Maister John Shorne,
That blessêd man borne,
For the ague to him we apply;
Which jugeleth with a bote;
I beschrewe his herte rote
That will trust him, and it be I.
   —Fantassie of Idolairie.

Short-Lived Administration (The), the administration formed February 12, 1746, by William Pulteney. It lasted only two days.

Shortcake (Mrs.), the baker’s wife, one of Mrs. Mailsetter’s friends.—Sir W. Scott: The Antiquary (time, George III.).

Shortell (Master), the mercer at Liverpool.—Sir W. Scott: Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).

Shorthose , a clown, servant to lady Hartwell the widow.—Fletcher: Wit without Money (1639).